Steam boiler and mercury condenser



i 1,941,4.so

Jam. IQ34. A c, E, LucKE STEM BOILER AND MERCURY CONDENSER Original Filed Aug.'4, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 r v ATTORNEYJ4 BIY .IPNTOR i v Patented Jan. 2, 1934 PATE-NT OFFICE s'rEsM nomm AND MERCURY coNDENsER omnes E. Lucke, New York, N. Y., assignor to The Babcock & Wilcox Company, Bayonne, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application August 4, 1928, Serial No. 297,456

Rene-Wed August 25, 1932 2 Claims. (CI. 122-32) This invention relates to a steam boiler and mercury condenser that can be made of standard boiler parts, and is especially useful in connection with mercury vapors that contain uncondensible gases, but it is not restricted to this particular use.

The invention will be-understoodfrom the description in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section along the line 1-1 of Fig. 2 through an illustrative embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is an end view of Fig. 1 with parts removed; Fig. 3 is a vertical section along the line 3-3 of Fig. 4 showing a modification, and Fig. 4 is an end view of'Fig. 3

With parts removed.

In the drawings, reference character 1 indicates an inclined shell in the form of a cylinder that is provided with an inlet 2 on its lower side near the upper end for mercury vapors from a mercury boiler (not shown). A hood 3 is provided above the inlet to prevent condensate from dropping back through the inlet and a fiange 4 is provided around the inner end of the inlet to prevent liquid condensate from running back into the inlet.

Bailies 5 extend upwardly from the lower side o'f the casing 1 and bafiles 6 extend downwardly from the upper side, these baflles being spaced apart such distances that vapor passes of decreasing areas toward the outlet are provided. An outlet 7 is provided at the, lower end near the upper side of the casing land may be connected to a vacuum pump for removing non-condensible gases. Drains 8 are provided along the lower side of the casing 1 to remove condensate that collects behind the baflles 5 or along the lower side of the casing 1. The pipes 8 extend to a collector 9, from which collector a pipe 10 may extend to a mercury boiler for generating vapors' to be introduced through the inlet 2.

Inclined tubesl 12 are installed inside of the casing 1 parallel to its axis. The lower ends of these tubes are Connected to downtake headers 13, while the other ends thereof are connected to uptake headers 14. The different headers in the groups 13 and l4-are made of different lengths, as

' most clearly indicated in-Fig. 2, so as to occupy substantially the entire cross-sectional area of the cylindrical casing 1.

, A cross drum 15 extends above the lower end of the casing 1 and the lower side thereof is connected by nipples 16 to the upper ends of the headers 13,\and these nipples prefcrably pass radially through the shell orcasing 1. Nipples 17 extend from the lower ends of the headers 13 to a semi-circular header 18 below the casing 1, the

nipples 17 preferably passing radially through the wall of the casing. The ends of the header 18 are connected by pipes 19 to the lower side of the cross drum`15.

Nipples 20 connect the upper ends of the headers 14 to a row of boxes 21 on the outside of the casing 1, these nipples also preferably passing radially through the wall of the casing. The junction boxes 21 are connected to the cross drum 15 by means of tubes 22.

The operation is as follows: Mercury vapors enter the casing 1 through the inlet 2 and pass a pluralty of times across the tubes 12 around the edges of the baflles 5 and 6, as indicated by the arrows. The condensed mercury passes to the lower side of the casing, thence out through the pipes 8 to the collector 9 and back to themercury boiler. The uncondensible gases in the mercury vapors are forced forward because of the decreasing cross-sectional area of the mercury vapor-passages and are at last drawn out through the outlet 7 by means vof the vacuumpump. The casing 1 is preferably made cylindrical since this form will enable it to withstand either internal or external pressures of considerable magnitude without requiring very thick'walls.

The water in the cross drum 15 passes down- Wardly through the nipples 16 into the headers 13 and also through the pipes 19 into the header '18, and thence through the nipples 17 into the headers 13. The water passes upwardly from the headers 13 through the inclined tubes 12 where steam vis generated. The'mixture of steam and Water enters the uptake headers 14 and passes through the nipples 20 and tubes 22 into the cross drum 15 from which the steam can be taken in the usual manner for use.

In the modification shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the parts already described are indicated by the same reference characters and will not be again described. In this modification, the header 18' is made straightlinstead of semi-circular and the tubes 20' extend directly from the upper ends of the headers 14 to the cross drum 15 instead of extending into junction boxes as in Figs. 1 and 2. The operation is similar to that already desoribed.

Changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 105

I claim:

1. A-steam boiler and a condenser for vapors of high boiling point liquids, comprising an inclined bank of tubes having headers, an enclosing vapor-tight shell for the said bank, means for 110 introduoing vapors of a high boiling point liquid into said shell at one end thereof, an outlet for non-condensible gases at the opposite end of said shell approximate the top, depending baflles intermediate the ends of the shell and cooperating with intermediate oppositely extending baflies to form a. tortuous path for the vapors back and forth across the tubes from entrance to outlet of the condensate, the bafles being positioned with respect to each other to provide a vaporI ing vapor-tight shell for the said bank, means for introducing vapors of a high boiling point liquid into said shell at one end thereof, an outlet for non-condenslble gases at the opposite end of said shell approximate the top, depending baies Intermediate the ends oi' the shell and oooperating With Intermediate oppositely extending baflles to form a tortuous path for the vapors back and forth across the tubes from entrance to outlet of the condensate, the bafes being positioned with respect to each other to provide a vapor passage of continually decreasing area to maintain velocity'of vapors over the tube from entrance to outlet as the vapor volume decreases due to oondensation, and means separately draining condensate from each compartment set off by the oppositely extending baflies hereinabove identified.

CHARLES E. LUCKE.

ito 

